


Torment

by SkiaWolf



Category: Tales of Zestiria
Genre: Angst, Game Spoilers, M/M, Nightmares, Post-Game
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-19
Updated: 2017-09-19
Packaged: 2018-12-31 17:03:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12137073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkiaWolf/pseuds/SkiaWolf
Summary: Throughout all the years of his waiting, images would haunt Mikleo almost every night. Sorey's return did not necessarily mean that this would be cured.





	Torment

**Author's Note:**

> This idea came to me suddenly a few days ago, and I wrote it yesterday to wind down from other stuff. I hope you enjoy it! (which is questionable)

Nightmares. Terrifying, heart-breaking images which took over the mind and body alike. They could drive a person to tears even in their sleep, cause the rate of their heartbeat to rise, form goosebumps across a shaking body. No one wishes to deal with them. And when they are chronic, assaulting the mind over a much longer period than most could deal with, they are even worse.

Seven centuries. The majority of those seven hundred nights alone were spent with those images. Multiple, reoccurring nightmares which seemed as though they would never leave him. They always had the same face appear in them; Sorey's.

Sometimes, he would be blessed by seeing Sorey in a much more positive light. They would be memories of all the wonderful times they spent together, or less commonly, his mind creating heart-warming scenarios of how it would be when they were reunited. But these could also be false.

They would twist into a world which Mikleo could not bear to see. This was worse than his general nightmares. It was being given hope of a peaceful rest, only to be snatched away and replaced with something much more sinister. Watching as Sorey sacrificed himself. Scenarios of Mikleo crying to his friends because there no longer seemed chance of Sorey waking up. And then, in the end, Mikleo taking his own life to be with the one who never returned.

Then there were the nightmares in which Sorey was there besides him, yet was different. With the long, flowing hair of a seraph, this seemed like the only difference, alongside a face which had matured a little more over the years. Yet the true differences would lie in Sorey himself. His memories, his feelings towards Mikleo. It was in these nightmares in which Mikleo's deepest fears would manifest into what often felt like reality.

“ _I don't remember you. How can I love someone I don't remember?”_

Two simple sentences, yet with deep meaning at the same time. There was no way to know for sure if Sorey would be able to remember Mikleo if he was reborn. If he _did_ lose his memories, what then? All of their time together, their love, Mikleo's time of waiting – would it all of it vanish? Did they really have a future together?

One day, Sorey returned. Mikleo could not recall ever feeling more joyful. Yet he had also never cried like he did in that moment. His arms had wrapped tightly around Sorey's neck, head buried into his shoulder as his body shook convulsively by sobs. Sorey stayed with him for the hours it took to calm. Unlike Mikleo's barely audible words of how much he loved Sorey, how long he waited, Sorey's own words were calm through his own tears.

“ _It's okay, I'm here now. I'm never leaving you again.”_

The kisses on his head and gentle, circular strokes on his back allowed him to calm down eventually. His body began to stop trembling, his tears steadily ceasing. His eyes were bloodshot by the time those tears had stopped. Yet even with red, puffy eyes and a flushed face, Sorey called him beautiful. Not only was he beautiful, but he was the _most_ beautiful. Those had been Sorey's precise words.

Everything seemed to improve at first. Mikleo no longer woke up in tears, or if he did, he'd be in Sorey's arms, held until they stopped. He no longer felt as lonely. He was here, travelling with Sorey as he had always wanted, seeing the world which was laid before them. Nightmares still occurred, yet less frequently. They were easier to deal with when he had the man he loved by his side.

But then the years passed. It was these years which reminded Mikleo of just how far apart the two of them were. As a human, Sorey aged, maturing just how he had done in Mikleo's dreams. It reminded Mikleo of a painful truth. Sorey was not ageing like a seraph would. He was a human fully becoming an adult. Unlike his lover, he was not immortal. And after the nightmares Mikleo had been cursed with, the reality of this hit harder than it did before Sorey slept.

More frequent nightmares returned. Sorey, of course, asked why. Was it something he did? Was something else on Mikleo's mind? Yet he could barely find a way to express himself. After all, how did one tell their lover that they fear their death, and how the one way to avoid them being torn apart could result in Mikleo losing him anyway?

He had to explain one day. Surprisingly, the reassurance that Sorey tried to give did not help. It almost left Mikleo frustrated.

“ _I could never forget you. And even if that did ever happen, I would never stop loving you. We're made for each other, after all.”_

Perhaps Sorey was right. A long time ago, it was what Mikleo believed himself. But the centuries changed him. The nights he'd spent bawling into a pillow, asking himself time and time again why fate had to be this way for them, had caused a fear which could never be vanish. It was a fear which could result in tearing the two apart before death could.

He loved Sorey. He would do anything for him, and it was the exact same the other way around. Yet it was hard to bask in this love when there was no clue as to what would be around the corner. It was impossible to be able to embrace it without constantly being frightened.

All he had wished for was Sorey to return. Yet now he had done so, Mikleo was waiting the day where Sorey would be gone once again. The day that perhaps he would be gone forever.

And Mikleo would once again be left alone to deal with those nightmares.


End file.
